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I’ve lived in America all of my eighty five years and my family has lived here much longer. Back in the day we did all the early American stuff. Kept slaves, killed Indians, Red Coats, Moslems, Mexicans, Yanks and/or Rebs, Spaniards; you know the list. We wrote the history books so it all seemed to make good sense; somehow. It’s just what one did, hereabouts, back in the day.

Closer to my time we started to raise the ante a bit. That business with Spain gave a taste of what we could be if we were to expand the franchise a tad; maybe more than a tad. Those pretty, and lucrative, little Spanish islands we took over were tempting us to have more; ever more. Why be stay-at-homes; forget G. Washington! There’s a big world out there. The entire century, the 20th, was an American strategic effort with mostly poor results. Insularity exerting itself unbidden; George’s revenge ? Perhaps.

Enter the coming of age century. The big 21st! Can we handle it? Grow up at last? Fat chance. A few guys blow up our stuff. Oh my, tantrum time. Ongoing, ever ongoing. Wet work all over the place. Mideast in shambles. Overspending big time. Domestic pain. DC resembling the Pol Pot on steroids. Half the GDP now in dead or zombie money locked up in midasville until doomsday. Tomorrow?

Then, a national election i.e. the rug being pulled from under a sand castle mounted on lemon jello. Oops! Didn’t know it might all fall apart. Should have known about the odds. We were told of only 17 years of peace in the 241 years since 1776 and hoped maybe 2017 would be the lucky number 18, but no. In my time I’ve run the gamut of red, white and blue emotions. Old fashioned patriotism, worry, hope, despair, doubt and pride of country. Now my most solemn emotion seems to reflect the national scene as it doubtless appears in the eyes of the world …embarrassment.